Woman sets up volunteering app after suffering from crippling loneliness
By Lizzie May
A woman who experienced crippling loneliness when first living in the city has set up a volunteering app to help people give anything from five minutes to an entire day for good causes.
Romanian-born Maria Lazar, 28, developed an app that makes volunteering easy for busy people living in London, after experiencing crippling loneliness and wanted to find a way to make friends and do good at the same time.
Ms Lazar (pictured), who lives in Canada Water set up Komorabi with the mission to integrate acts of kindness into our everyday lives.
Her encounter with loneliness came when she first moved from Romania to London, finding it difficult to strike a healthy work-life balance and make genuine connections in the little time she had to spare.
Ms Lazar said: “For the first six months in London, I just struggled and struggled so much to make real friendships.
“I have now discovered people who are doing volunteering and were missing home like I was – we have created a really strong community.
“I can now safely say I am no longer missing home, because I have a sense of fulfilment with volunteering even if it is only a few minutes per week.”
Ms Lazar, who works in tech, forced herself to do at least ten meet-ups with strangers a month to try and make friends in London.
The app matches users with bite-sized volunteering opportunities posted by charities in their local area, regardless of how little time they may have or if they are unable to leave the house.
Users can choose causes they care most about to focus on, a few of which are helping the elderly, mental health, homelessness and women’s rights.
Some of the least time-consuming activities involve donating clothes, food and litter picking, which would only take busy Londoners ten minutes per week.
With the ramifications of Covid causing isolation and the darker nights starting earlier in the day, many at-home volunteering opportunities are now available to ensure people who want to help can still do so.
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